The parents of children who were allegedly sexually molested by an older student face daunting challenges in their lawsuit against the Allentown School District, Professor David S. Cohen said in a Morning Call article published April 28.

The suit alleges that school officials engaged in sex discrimination by failing to aggressively investigate the alleged attacker’s prior molestations.

Cohen said that under Title IX, the federal law against sex-based discrimination in schools, the plaintiffs may have difficulty proving their case.

“It’s not just that you knew about something and didn’t do a good enough job in responding to it,” Cohen said. “It’s that you intentionally ignored it, and that’s hard to show.”

An expert on sexual harassment and discrimination law, Cohen has published articles in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, George Washington Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, Boston University Law Review, South Carolina Law Review and the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law.